Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books 41 (02) 1987

published or submitted for publicatio

The Effects Of Gestalt And Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Group Interventions On The Assertiveness And Self-Esteem Of Women With Physical Disabilities Facing Abuse

The purpose of this study was to examine the differential effects of Gestalt and Cognitive-Behavioral group therapy interventions on assertiveness and self-esteem among women with physical disabilities facing abuse. The eleven women, who met the study criteria, were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions, Gestalt Therapy (GT) and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) group interventions. The Demographic Questionnaire (Adam Rita, 2009) documented personal characteristics of the participants. The criterion instruments were: a) RAS (Rathus, 1973), and b) CFSEI-2 (Form AD, Battle, 1992) measuring assertiveness and self-esteem respectively and were administered pre-and-post treatment. The research was conducted over a period of six weeks, totaling six weekly two-hour group sessions. It was hypothesized these interventions would help women with physical disabilities facing abuse increase their levels of assertiveness and self-esteem. To determine if the differences between groups were statistically significant for the two dependent variables, assertiveness and self-esteem, MANCOVAs within subjects contrasts and between subjects effects were examined. Based on these findings, neither Gestalt Therapy (GT) nor Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) group interventions produced statistically significant outcome effects on the dependent variables, assertiveness and self-esteem. The findings did not support the research hypotheses; therefore both null hypotheses were retained

DIVE on the internet

This dissertation reports research and development of a platform for Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVEs). It has particularly focused on two major challenges: supporting the rapid development of scalable applications and easing their deployment on the Internet. This work employs a research method based on prototyping and refinement and promotes the use of this method for application development. A number of the solutions herein are in line with other CVE systems. One of the strengths of this work consists in a global approach to the issues raised by CVEs and the recognition that such complex problems are best tackled using a multi-disciplinary approach that understands both user and system requirements. CVE application deployment is aided by an overlay network that is able to complement any IP multicast infrastructure in place. Apart from complementing a weakly deployed worldwide multicast, this infrastructure provides for a certain degree of introspection, remote controlling and visualisation. As such, it forms an important aid in assessing the scalability of running applications. This scalability is further facilitated by specialised object distribution algorithms and an open framework for the implementation of novel partitioning techniques. CVE application development is eased by a scripting language, which enables rapid development and favours experimentation. This scripting language interfaces many aspects of the system and enables the prototyping of distribution-related components as well as user interfaces. It is the key construct of a distributed environment to which components, written in different languages, connect and onto which they operate in a network abstracted manner. The solutions proposed are exemplified and strengthened by three collaborative applications. The Dive room system is a virtual environment modelled after the room metaphor and supporting asynchronous and synchronous cooperative work. WebPath is a companion application to a Web browser that seeks to make the current history of page visits more visible and usable. Finally, the London travel demonstrator supports travellers by providing an environment where they can explore the city, utilise group collaboration facilities, rehearse particular journeys and access tourist information data

A search for primitive voice in post-modern theatre

This thesis examines the influences of primitive vocal delivery on Post-Modern Theatre. Beginning with a review of the work of three directors: Jerzy Grotowski, Peter Brook, and Richard Schechner; the thesis moves to a case study of a 1991 production of Macbeth where primary research is documented. Focusing on the production of a language based on primitive culture, the theatrical community is furnished with a vocabulary of sound/communication that may be implemented for Macbeth\u27s Weird Sisters. Finally, the thesis directs the use of primitive vocal scoring, like musical transcription, toward a future outlook at similar projects

Raising the Devil: Satanism, New Religions, and the Media

Raising the Devil reveals how the Christian Pentecostal movement, right-wing conspiracy theories, and an opportunistic media turned grassroots folk traditions into the Satanism scare of the 1980s. During the mid-twentieth century, devil worship was seen as merely an isolated practice of medieval times. But by the early 1980s, many influential experts in clinical medicine and in law enforcement were proclaiming that satanic cults were widespread and dangerous. By examining the broader context for alleged “cult” activity, Bill Ellis demonstrates how the image of contemporary Satanism emerged during the 1970s. Blaming a wide range of mental and physical illnesses on in-dwelling demons, a faction of the Pentecostal movement became convinced that their gifts of the spirit were being opposed by satanic activities. They attributed these activities to a “cult” that was the evil twin of true Christianity. In some of the cases Ellis considers, common folk beliefs and rituals were misunderstood as evidence of devil worship. In others, narratives and rituals themselves were used to combat satanic forces. As the media found such stories more and more attractive, any activity with even remotely occult overtones was demonized in order to fit a model of absolute good confronting evil. Ellis’s wide-ranging investigation covers ouija boards, cattle mutilation, graveyard desecration, and “diabolical medicine”--the psychiatric community’s version of exorcism. He offers a balanced view of contentious issues such as demonic possession, satanic ritual abuse, and the testimonies of confessing “ex-Satanists.” A trained folklorist, Ellis seeks to navigate a middle road in this dialog, and his insights into informal religious traditions clarify how the image of Satanism both explained and created deviant behavior. The strengths of Raising the Devil lie in its meticulous research (in many cases, uncovering a wealth of obscure materials), close attention to detail, and broad view of the subject. . . . An insightful contribution to a vital topic that refuses to give up and die. -- American Studies International An interesting analysis of satanic folklore and organized antisatanism in the US and UK. -- Choice Highly valuable to scholars interested in the Satanic panics, in rumour panics in general, in the ways in which institutions draw on folklore for their own purposes, or in belief. -- Culture & Tradition A fascinating study that should become a classic. -- Daniel Wojcik, University of Oregon A fascinating study. It also has a message that, if heeded, will remove a potent source of grief and fear. -- Folklore If you read one book on the latter-day Satan revival, this is the one you want. -- Fortean Times Very few scholars have attempted what Bill Ellis does in this book: the careful, methodical study of a legend complex and its interaction with the surrounding context—social, historical, and global. . . . A story that is nothing short of fascinating. -- Journal of American Folklore Very few scholars have attempted what Bill Ellis does in the book: a careful, methodical study of a legend complex and its interaction with the surrounding context—social, historical, and global. -- Journal of American Folklore Research Never again shall I see ‘Satan and all his works’ in the same light. Such is the effect of reading a good book. -- Lexington Herald-Leader Highly recommended as a lucid and well-documented account of a subject that is not always given thoughtful treatment. -- Library Journal Shows how ancient bogeyman beliefs became aligned with politics and the criminal justice system to produce witch-hunts like the infamous McMartin Preschool case. -- Mother Jones Takes an important and newsworthy topic and provides a very different slant upon it. The diversity of his approaches will make it important to several different fields. -- Philip Jenkins, Penn State Universityhttps://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_occultism/1000/thumbnail.jp

Analysis domain model for shared virtual environments

The field of shared virtual environments, which also encompasses online games and social 3D environments, has a system landscape consisting of multiple solutions that share great functional overlap. However, there is little system interoperability between the different solutions. A shared virtual environment has an associated problem domain that is highly complex raising difficult challenges to the development process, starting with the architectural design of the underlying system. This paper has two main contributions. The first contribution is a broad domain analysis of shared virtual environments, which enables developers to have a better understanding of the whole rather than the part(s). The second contribution is a reference domain model for discussing and describing solutions - the Analysis Domain Model

English witches and SS academics: evaluating sources for the English witch trials in Himmler’s Hexenkartothek

Prior to WWII, Himmler organised a team of SS researchers to collate records of historical witchcraft trials that had taken place in lands of the expanding Reich. The ideological pretext for this undertaking was the collection of evidence demonstrating an anti-German crusade by the Church. While this was a figment of historical imagination, the SS pursued it doggedly against the backdrop of the Holocaust. Whereas trials that had taken place on historically German lands were often sourced from primary documents to which the researchers had access within Reich libraries, trials further afield were less rigorously sourced. Little was done to differentiate between primary and secondary or even tertiary sources. One SS source for English witch trials was a text by a German-Jewish literary scholar about witchcraft in Renaissance drama. Such critical indifference on the part of the SS is thought by some to render the archive of little interest, but examining the ideological underpinnings of Nazi reception of these materials can help situate these researchers among the turbulent social and political structures of the Third Reich and its uneven privileging of the intellectual fringe. This also constitutes the first critical/biographical analysis in any language of the sources for the English trial cards in the catalogue

Experimental study of the robust global synchronization of Brockett oscillators

International audienceThis article studies the experimental synchronization of a family of a recently proposed oscillator model, i.e. the Brockett oscillator [Brockett, 2013]. Due to its structural property, Brockett oscillator can be considered as a promising benchmark nonlinear model for investigating synchronization and the consensus phenomena. Our experimental setup consists of analog circuit realizations of a network of Brockett oscillators. Experimental results obtained in this work correspond to the prior theoretical findings